I Think It Was The Coffee

My spacebar was sticking while I was at the family reunion.   I futzed with it and it worked nominally but it required extra mashing pressure and the key itself wasn’t bouncing back.  When I got home I connected the computer to the Thunderbolt monitor and the external keyboard caused me to forget about the issue…until I brought my laptop back upstairs to my “office” otherwise known as the bed.  

I sit on the bed most days when I write these posts.   This is a change from most of the entire history of this blog, which featured posts written from my desk in the basement.   At any rate, the spacebar was decidedly not working.   I looked at some videos online about how to pry up keys on this keyboard, clean them and then put them back.   Only those videos were of keys other than the spacebar.

Upon further research a la YouTube, it appeared that yes, the spacebar could be removed, only it wasn’t possible to do so without snapping little teeny tiny teeth that held it in place, which meant you’d broken it.   There were ways to jerry rig it, but I don’t like anything jerry rigged, so that was out.  

The only alternative was to try and clean, carefully, under the spacebar in the very small tolerance you could get by lifting it up carefully around the perimeter a section at a time.   By this time I had a panoply of tools on the bed with me because this was going to be careful spacebar surgery.



And cotton from q-tips.  That was the most helpful as it turns out there was a lot of funk under the spacebar.   I knew I was a mess, but this was surprising.   Then my husband remembered that coffee was spilled on my keyboard, or I suppose splashed on it, while we were at sea.   It was a tricky situation, having coffee near you while sailing.   I kept my coffee mug towards the stern of the boat, as that part of the table was lower and any spilled coffee would roll away from my laptop.   But at one point, the only point in fact that we had a spill on the table, it was a mug that was at the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong situation.

It was fast and it was only a splash.   All seemed well, which is why I hadn’t connected the coffee with the black gunk coming out from under my spacebar until my husband remembered the incident. I cleaned for a good while, every time having more blackness come out with the cotton wisps wedged under with a very flat dental tool.  The spacebar wasn’t as sticky stuck, but it wasn’t back to making that satisfying clicking sound either.

And then it was back.   The right amount of goo was removed or the right spot was freed up and I could type once again without having my words run together with failed space bar presses and grumbles from me in swear words I should try and say less.  

So I’m back.  I’m typing and things are working.   I love when hardware works like it’s suppose to.   And I equally hate when it doesn’t.

The Big Boy Update:  My son went to the zoo today with his sitter.   He was allowed to take his Switch for the ride there and back.   He has been working on completing all of the various challenges and alternate endings for Zelda.  He’s been watching YouTube videos for tips and tricks.   It’s a complicated game.   He told me yesterday he thinks it’s his greatest achievement.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter’s hair is finally back to normal.   It’s been close to a month and I, for one, am glad it’s over.   Here are the three stages of her hair:

Braided


Unbraided—finally after hours of getting the sticky braids undone.


After washing her hair six times.   It wouldn’t lather up for the first five times it was so coated in sunscreen and dirt.  Then dried and in my daughter’s favorite, “Cousin It” style.


And, at last, return to normalcy.